Lonely Girl
by Robot.In.Disguise
Summary: Songfic, Sandy, a baby.. one-shot. If you want my take on Sandy going back to Tulsa, read The Stars Are Upside Down. Its not that great, but, meh..


Sorry if this sucks, I've always liked this song and Sandy's the only character it would really fit for. The song is Lonely Girl, by Craig's Brother.

* * *

Soda had been too caught up in everything else in his life to notice Sandy's changes. Sure, he had noticed she had gained some weight and her moods were always on the fly, but it seemed like that happened every month. You know, around _that_ time of month. It wasn't so much that she looked... fat... but her clothes had been getting noticeably tighter. That's what Soda noticed. But he didn't make any connections off of it. Girls gain weight all the time. It was what he didn't notice that made the difference. All the dates that Sandy broke off because she was too exhausted; all the quick runs to the Curtis' bathroom in the middle of dinner; the fact that she didn't seem as anxious to "make bunny-love," as Soda referred to it when they were alone. If he had noticed those things earlier, it would have added up. He would have known. Then maybe she wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe she wouldn't be in Florida now. Sure, she could have come right out and told Soda, but... she couldn't bring herself to do it. They had been together for a while, 8 months nearly, but she was still shy around him. It was hard enough coming up with the story about the other guy. The guy that didn't even exist. Soda would have married her if she would have just told him. Then she wouldn't be here...  
  
_Winter breaks upon that lonely girl   
A tell-tale stomach and a broken world and only grief  
December finds her in a world of care  
Nine months swollen and abandoned there   
Without relief from all this grief  
_  
  
Three months that Sandy had been in Florida. Soda hadn't noticed her changes, but her parents sure had. "Little tramp," her dad had called her. They sent her to her grandparents' house, in Florida, but she only stayed a week. She threw together a knapsack filled with a couple of changes of clothes and what little food she could smuggle from the kitchen, and took off. She stayed in town, not too far from her grandparents' house – just in case she needed to swipe something while they were away – but not close enough that they might bump into each other. She managed to get a job as a waitress at a small corner diner – no small feat, considering most stores wouldn't even consider hiring someone so very pregnant. The pay wasn't anything to write home about, if she even had somewhere to call home, anymore, but they let her have her meals for free, "due to your situation," they told her. She never knew she would get so hungry. The diner owners, a friendly elderly couple, encouraged her to eat. "Having a baby is a lot of work, you need your strength."   
  
_Her fear matched only by her appetite  
Not knowing one day she would see the night  
When all these troubles had been made all right  
And that child would praise her  
_  
  
She had been having contractions all day. They were getting closer together and more insistent, but Sandy kept pushing them to the edge of her mind. She couldn't concentrate on taking orders if she focused on the pain too much. It wasn't too much of a pain, really, mostly just bothersome. She could handle this.   
  
She put her pencil to the first line on her order pad and took a breath. "Ladies, can I get you some..." She thought she heard a small pop and suddenly realized there was a dark shadow crawling down her pantyhose. A look of horror spread across her face as she stammered a meek "excuse me" to the ladies and fled to the kitchen.  
A few minutes later, one of the veteran waitresses comforted her in the bathroom.   
  
"Maggie, I'm so embarrassed! I can't believe I peed on myself!" Sandy wailed into Maggie's shoulder.   
  
Maggie gently rubbed Sandy's back and rocked her from side to side. "Shh, sweetie, it's ok. You're under a lot of stress right now. I've got some extra pantyhose in my car. Dry yourself off and I'll let you borrow those, ok?"  
  
Maggie pushed through the bathroom door, pantyhose in hand, to stand face to face with a different Sandy. Embarrassed, tear-stained, shook-up Sandy was gone. In her place was a frightened, drained, and shaking Sandy. Her eyes looked so hollow...  
  
"You need to take me to the hospital. Now."  
  
_Hide your tears now put your pain away  
Let your fears belong to yesterday   
You're not alone  
_  
  
The nurses could sense her nervousness, she was sure of that. Maybe they were nervous for her. She couldn't tell which, with their incessant chattering.   
  
"Trying for a Christmas baby?" one asked.  
  
"Yeah, she just couldn't wait so long to have it!" another answered for Sandy.  
  
"Do you want a boy or girl?" a third asked.   
  
Sandy murmured some form of reply and closed her eyes. The oh-Lord-this-is-really-happening feeling in the pit of her stomach was making her nauseated.   
  
A male voice broke into her thoughts. She must have dozed off for a minute.  
  
"...husband?"  
  
Sandy blinked slowly at the doctor standing at the foot of her bed. "What?"  
  
"Your husband, have you contacted him yet, miss?"  
  
She looked away, studying the floor tiles. "I'm not married."   
  
The doctor seemed to be thrown for a loop. He must have been a new doctor, he didn't seem to be used to single mothers in the laboring room. Surely she wasn't the first... He studied the charts in his hand for a moment and spoke up again. "Have you had any Lamaze training?"  
  
"What's Lamaze?"  
  
The doctor laughed and made a mark on the chart. "So, that's a no. Will you be taking an epidural?"  
  
"Epidural?" Sandy echoed.  
  
"It's something new that's being developed. It's a strong narcotic that you can request. We've had many women demand it to avoid the birth pains."  
  
Birth pains... She honestly hadn't given one thought as to how this baby was coming out, let alone any pain that might be involved. Sandy looked back at the doctor. "Yeah, let me try it."  
  
One of the older nurses looked sharply at the doctor. "Doctor, she's only 16. She's a child. It's against the law to give it to a minor."  
  
Surprise registered across the doctor's face. He checked the charts again, then smiled weakly at Sandy. "I'm very sorry about this, miss. I hope you have high pain tolerance levels."  
  
Sandy's mouth dropped as the doctor walked out of the room. "Birth pains?" she whispered.  
  
_December makes its Yule tide round again  
A lonely girl lies lost in labor pain beyond relief  
Water breaks inside that lonely girl  
A child is brought into this broken world  
So small so weak he knows no grief_  
  
The hospital let Maggie stay in the laboring room with Sandy. Ten hours of strong, hard labor slowly passed. The nurses brought food in, but what little Sandy managed to get down came back up a few minutes later. Every 15 minutes or so a nurse would rush in, lift up the sheet covering Sandy's legs, check Sandy's progress and rush back out. She never felt so humiliated in her life.   
  
"Maggie, I can't do this, I can't, I can't," Sandy wailed.  
  
Maggie wiped Sandy's forehead with a cool, wet rag. "Sweetie, you're doing great. I bet you're almost done. I've got 3 of my own at home; you can do this. It's hard work, there's a reason it's called labor, but you can do it."  
  
A nurse rushed in to check Sandy. She suddenly turned and yelled for help. Three more nurses hurried in, strapped Sandy onto the bed, and wheeled her out to the delivery room.   
  
"Medical personnel only in the delivery room," one cheerfully called back to Maggie.  
  
_He only knows the one who brought him here  
Gave him life and made his value clear  
If he could speak his lips would know no fear  
They would only praise her  
_  
  
Sandy knew exactly when she needed to start pushing. It was an unavoidable urge. Three hours went by slowly. They told her they could see the baby coming; there was a head full of hair! She managed to gasp out her approval – she never cared for bald babies. Then, on top of the agonizing need to push, there was a burning she had never known before. She whimpered and with one final push, she felt the baby, her baby, complete it's journey just before she blacked out.  
  
She supposed it was blacking out, anyway; she was still conscious. She just didn't have any of her senses. She felt as though she were floating, surrounded by black. She couldn't see or hear anything, but she could feel herself blinking. A minute later, she came to. Standing before her was the doctor holding a wet, red, wailing baby. Two of the nurses were standing at the side of the bed. The doctor handed the baby to the nurse closest to him, smiled at Sandy and patted her on the shoulder before exiting the room. Such a strange man, Sandy thought.  
  
"It's a boy, you had a boy! Isn't he so adorable!" one nurse gushed. The other nurse leaned down to Sandy and handed her son to her.   
  
"What are you going to name him?" the second nurse grinned.  
  
A name... Something else Sandy hadn't thought of before. She stared down at the tiny boy. He was so small. She never dreamed she could make something so beautiful, so perfect. He squinted at her and yawned widely. He had Soda's eyes. Less than ten minutes old and already they were dancing, like he had a secret he just couldn't wait to tell her. What was Soda's middle name, again?  
  
"Patrick. His name is Patrick Curtis."


End file.
